A Company Is Making Plant-Based, Grocery Aisle Tuna To Help Save The Oceans
A lot of vegan companies these days are developing products to encourage meat-eaters to give up their carnivorous side every now and then. So far, companies like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat have been successful in the burger space, and now a company called Good Catch Foods is looking to have a similar level of impact, but in the grocery store tuna market. That’s right, they’re making a plant-based tuna that’s also shelf-stable.
Good Catch’s tuna is made from a proprietary blend of six different legumes, including chickpeas, lentils, and fava beans, to help get the product to the same flakiness and flavor as regular canned tuna. Beans make for a smart substitute because like fish, they can be processed via canning and sold as a shelf-stable product for months.
To get the legume fish knockoff closer to the real deal, Good Catch goes a step further and adds in omega-3s in the form of algae oil. Fish are typically a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, so having them in the plant-based version means you won’t lose that key nutritional benefit.
Being made from legumes means that the vegan tuna also avoids several of the drawbacks a shelf-stable fish product might have. These include mercury, heavy metal toxins, and that strong fishy smell that can result when you open up a can or pouch.
The company hopes that their product can have a global impact and help keep ourselves from fishing many species out of extinction. By using beans instead, they’re creating a sustainable version of the canned tuna commonly purchased these days that could help replenish wild populations of fish. Statistics show that 85 percent of all current species of fish are either being fully exploited or overfished, according the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization, making this a serious problem in our oceans today.
It’s a pretty revolutionary move in the world of plant-based foods, and one that could have huge implications in reducing overfishing for years to come.
Good Catch’s first products will hit stores in December 2018, according to their website. Flavors will include “Naked” (or plain vegan tuna in water), Mediterranean, and Olive Oil with Herbs.
